06. - 10.06.2008 the persians aeschylus/müller/witzmann – space choreography with the chorus of 500, national theatre brunswick, festival theaterformen (d)
«the persians» by aeschylus was shown after vienna and geneva (both 2006) in june 2008 in a new production, opening the festival theaterformen at staatstheater braunschweig (national theatre of brunswick), germany. the production mobilized a chorus of 340 citizens. their chorus is an organisation of different bodies and biographies, negotiating with itself, the others and the texts via breath and rhythm. after a three months rehearsing process, at the same time initiating a debate about theatre and modes of democracy, the citizens of braunschweig entered the stage of the national theatre.
«the persians» was accompanied by the discourse series p-bar with edit hall, jonas grethlein et al and a final discussion in public space about experiences during the process, entitled «create your state», with members of the chorus and international experts.
click to view photo series
photo: christian bort
the persians brunswick, photos: christian bort
video: DIE PERSER brunswick
concept/staging/score: claudia bosse, translation: peter witzmann/heiner müller, envoy: jörg petzold, atossa: doris uhlich, shade of dareios: christine standfest, xerxes: marion bordat, chorus leader: roland bedrich, anne cathrin buhtz, inga kolbeinsson, hanna legatis, christoph linder, oliver losehand, christiane ostermayer, ilona christina schulz, katja thiele, cornelia windmüller, assistant director: andreas gölles, coordination/research/ assistant of dramaturgy: anselm lenz, anke dyes, production management: caroline farke. persian chorus:
beate achilles, judith adomeit, franz c. agthe, elisabeth ahrling-witte, karl-christian amme, renate amme, sabine antrack, florian arnold, franziska bartsch, manuela bartsch, stefan bauer, dörte baumann, angela becker, theo becker, susanne bei der kellen, roswitha bender, werner bergau, hannelore berzins, thomas billhardt-schmitz, angela bleser-baydur, andreas blöcher, hilde blum, liang bo, barbara bock, pascale boehlke-meyer, niklas boehm, tanja bolm, karl-heinrich borm, helga bosse, sönke brandt, peter brockmeier, monika brombach, christine burgdorf, pirzade çakir, ghita cleri, karin dahms, merlene dannheim-mertens, jürgen daube, arwed diestelmann, angelika dikhoff, carsten dittmann ulrich domeier, norma dowald-spillmann, uwe drewen, ric drews, heike düwel, nassipkul dyussembekova, anne-marie egert-schmidt, anna marie elvins, barbara eversberg, eskandar fallahi, roswitha fallahi, theresia fehrenbacher, jutta finger, maria fischer-sander, astrid flohr, antje folke, kira forst, birgit franke, kerstin franke, anja frasunkiewicz, sandra fülling, uwe gabler, barbara gendolla, miriam gepp, jan gössner, ulrich grammel, jutta gremmler, werner grothe, edith grumbach-raasch, susanne gründel, cornelia regina grundmann, laura grundmann, gerlinde gömmel, erika gottschalk-riske, katja hagedorn, beate hatko, klaus harbusch, regine harbusch, ursula hartmann, andré hemmes, liane hensling-pohl, gudrun herrmann, hanne herrmann, petra hinrichs, uwe hohm, heidi hornburg, ida hübner, carla vom hoff, christel hoffmann, gerd hoffmann, herbert hoffmann, christa holzhauer, susanne höne, wilfried huhn, cornelia isensee, burkhard jäger, wolfgang jahns, charlotte jakob, ilse junge, karin kalsen, michael kalsen, patrick kaluza, sabina kaluza, uwe kammerhoff, antonia kamp, john richter kansted, josef kantner, sigrid kaßler, antje kasten, birgit kaupsch, ingrid kautz, claudia ketteler, samira khodaei, monika kinkel, petra kirchberger, laura kischkel, birgit klauder, stefanie klemp, rainer klingenberg, renate knauerhase, angelika köcher, helmut köcher, desirée körner, ria koska, elke kottutz, anjuta kowalewsky, gunter krense, stefan krense, ingeborg kresse-blümel, gundula kriegeskorte, marie kriegeskorte, dorothea krock, brigitta krüger, edgar krüger, cora kruse, brigitte kruse-flügel, eckart kuhlen, renate, kuske, katy küster, evelyn lachmund, günter langer, hilke langer, anna lautenbach, annett leibrock, martine liehr, götz lindner, dagmar lipovac, dieter lochau, christine lochte, andreas lochte, petra lüddecke, dagmar luhmann, sabine luxa, sabine magnus, monika manhenke, annelie mann, gesa mathiak, maike martin, petra mauer, daniela meier armin meixner, karin meixner, beate mencke-hasan, gottfried mende, sina meyer, dagmar mischge-schildgen, christel moneke, kurt moneke, erika mucha, agnes mückner, regine nahrwold, elisabeth nawrot, eveline neuwinger, astrid nickel, simone nieswandt, gabriele nitsche, maike noack, friederike noske, gisela noske, olivia otto, katrin pachel, angelika perl, edith perret, kathrin von petzinger, irmgard pfeifle, gabriele pieper, klaus pieper, angela plentz, silke raack, ines rahaus, elke rappold, paula rathjen, urban regenauer, jutta-barbara reinefeld, anneke reiß, marianne reiß michael ritter, astrid roeder, karin rosenthal, silke rumpf, ulrike schaper, heike scharfschwert, ines schaub gomeri, helmut schelz, ira schichova, ariane schlüter, mimi schlüter, kristina schmitz, bettina schmidt, dorothea schmidt, silvia schönberg, werner schönfeld, cornelia schrader, joachim schrader, klaus m. schroeder, rosemarie schröter, martina schüler, wilhelm schulze-marmeling, dag schumacher, christine schütz, nora schütz, barbara schwarz, anni seidner, klaus seiler, hildegard seipelt, detlef seydel, hilke simon, maike siuts, charlotte spoer, ursula sporleder-wulf, mandy stegen, ulrike stein, anne steiner-khodaei, johannes stempin, elisabeth strauch-bergau, birgit stumpf, brigitte süßner, greve, eila sutela-korty, maik teßmann, ute maria teubner, roswitha thiele, christa timm, susann tonne, thomas töpfer, sonja torney, sabine ulbrich, birgit waaga, volker wagner, brigitte walter, frauke wandmacher, hannelore warnk gaby weinlich, rita weise, monika wendler, charlotte werner, veronika werner, beate westphal, anne-doris wiebe, andrea wiemann, monika wiethüchter, ingrid wildermann, carmen wille, ursula winter, brigitte wolff, ingrid wolframm, johannes wolframm, dieter wollny, karl-georg wrede, diana wurster, jochen wurster, yasemin mergem, yüksel-glogowski, conny zander
premiere 6.06.2008, 5 performances + 2 public rehearsals
coproduction with festival theaterformen, national theatre brunswick and theatercombinat
abstract from an interview with claudia bosse
«... the chorus is somehow ominous, out of a certain fear of organised people or masses. the chorus creates a force, which may be disconcerting for the individual. part of the concept in developing this chorus was to provide material: initially given to the chorus leaders, who had to capture it, transform it and pass it on to the choreutae with their own methods. the members of the chorus then catched up with the material to construct and play with it.
the choreography is a structured alteration of situations, from where rhythmized texts begin to sound. the spectator encounters permanently shifting situations which constantly provoke accidental confrontations. that means, every single one within these ‘rules of the collective’ is continuously forced to reach decisions or to establish relations. because of the spectator becoming part of the staging, he himself shapes with his body the course and the impact of the performance.
basically, there are no images in these stagings. there are only situations. as a spectator, you are never on the outside. the removing of a certain ‘eventfulness’, the reduction to a special presence combined with the manner, the duration and also the method of how this martial conflict is narrated, contradict our familiarization with the experience of perceiving a new war every 30 seconds.»
the persians brunswick, photos: christian bort
